What Patients Should Know About Physical Therapy

You have heard about physical therapy over and over again but what is it really all about? We know that it has something to do with the physical body and its movements because of the name. To give you an idea, physical therapy is a treatment for patients with health problems that affect their physical movements. Some people who have a health condition find it hard to do activities and move around.

Physical therapy helps the person to become more mobile and helps relieve the pain from the movement. Physical therapy is helpful in restoring or improving the physical function of the body as well as a person’s fitness level.

The whole goal of physical therapy is to make your daily activities easier to do. Such activities that are normally treated are those having problems to walk or go up the stairs. If you think you are suffering from limited movements because of a health condition, you should get physical therapy.

Moreover, physical therapy can help you recover from surgeries aside from long-term health problems that are impeding your movements. Usually, doctors will recommend physical therapy if you have back pain, have tendon or ligament problems, have anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, meniscus tear, plantar fasciitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal stenosis, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Physical therapy can be done alongside other treatments depending on what the doctor recommends.

Where is physical therapy administered? For some patients, they can have their physical therapy at their own home. Other patients can go to the clinic, nursing home, hospital, school or fitness setting to get their therapies. The person to administer physical therapy is called a physical therapist. He or she is the one to examine your physical difficulties. In addition, is also in making a treatment plan specifically for you. Depending on the condition you have, the treatment plan will focus on flexibility, endurance, coordination, strength and balance.

During your physical therapy sessions, the first thing that your therapist will do is to reduce the swelling. Once the pain and swelling has been reduced, the treatment can now start. Physical therapy involves exercises like stretching, weight lifting and core exercises. There are exercises that you can do at home so you can do them at your free time. Furthermore, physical therapists can add some manual therapy, heat/cold therapy, ultrasound or electrical stimulation to hasten your recovery process. The combination of these treatment methods yields the best results.